Does appearance influence career opportunities?

Tristram Hooley (Professor of Career Education,

University of Derby) Presentation to Vitae conference

2015.

Does appearance influence career opportunities?

http://www.derby.ac.uk/ehs

www.derby.ac.ukwww.derby.ac.uk/icegs www.derby.ac.uk/icegs

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Appearance and careers work

Appearance and graduates

Doe

s ap

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ance

mat

ter? In general?

For careers?

For academic careers? H

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What do practitioners think?

Possible responses?

Ethics


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Doe

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pear

ance

mat

ter? In general?

For careers?


ow c

an w

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spon

d to

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is?


Possible responses?

Ethics


About our research

We’ve done four projects so far…• If you look the part you’ll get the job.• Graduate dress code• Advising on career image• The graduate selfie

Working with my co-researchers Julia Yates, Beth Cutts and Kiren Bagri Kaur.


What we haven’t done

• Anything on the attitudes of professionals working in researcher development.

• Anything on the attitudes of PhDs, postdocs or researchers.

But, this would be interesting!


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Doe

s ap

pear

ance

mat

ter? In general?

For careers?


ow c

an w

e re

spon

d to

th

is?


Possible responses?

Ethics


Does appearance matter?

• people make quick judgements about attractiveness• attractiveness is associated with other positive

characteristics (the halo effect)• attractiveness can be enhanced (hair, clothes, make up)• appearance conveys information about an individual (e.g.

class, sub-culture) and people infer characteristics • there is also some observation of a beauty is beastly

effect• much of this is taking place on a sub-conscious level.


Does it matter for careers?

A meta-analysis of experimental studies by Hosoda et al. (2003) suggests:• consistent (moderate effect size) influence of

attractiveness on job-related outcomes• this is diminished by having more job-relevant information

about individuals• gender differences in these findings are complex


From an employers point of view

• Attractive sales assistants sell more• Attractive CEOs lead to increased share prices• Attractive negotiators get better deals• Attractive bosses generate more publicity• Attractive hedge fund managers attract greater fund flows• Attractive political candidates get more votes


Aesthetic labour

Some industries overtly recruit for appearance.

Aesthetic labour describes the effort (and cost) involved in making yourself look good.

Can be seen as a way of discriminating on class as well as appearance.

Particular issue in the service industry and other customer facing roles.

www.derby.ac.ukwww.derby.ac.uk/icegs

Beauty

Interpersonal skills

Self-presentation

Career Image

Getting job interviews

Job offers

Promotion


How students manage these issues

“I’ll wear what I want to wear.”

“If I was a teacher, I wouldn’t take my ear piercing out, because you can’t be defined by what you do. Then that’s all people ever know about you.”

“If there are rules, aren’t you just going to follow them?”

“I’d wear a suit. There’s nothing else you can wear really”

“You sort of pick-up what’s acceptable, like, you know, to what extent are like jeans acceptable in a work place.”


Does it matter for academics?

• Romano & Bordieri (1989) observed the halo effect operating between students and academics.

• Students online ratings of academics correlate with their ‘hotness’ (Bonds-Raacke et al. 2007).

• Does attractiveness and appearance also influence hiring, promotion and funding decisions?


Academic dress code

"Piled Higher and Deeper" by Jorge Chamwww.phdcomics.com


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Doe

s ap

pear

ance

mat

ter? In general?

For careers?


ow c

an w

e re

spon

d to

th

is?


Possible responses?

Ethics


What do career practitioners think?

• 477 careers practitioners• Most thought that appearance and attractiveness was

important and were willing to talk about it with clients.• They feel well informed about the issues but would

welcome more training and support with ethics. • They thought that interpersonal skills were most important

and beauty the least important. • They were not always keen to raise the issues that they

believed to have the most impact e.g. weight.


Possible responses

Don’t talk about it

Address extreme cases

Referral

Facilitate reflection

View career image as a skill to be developed

Give advice

Challenging assumptions and getting political


References

• Bonds-Raacke, J., & Raacke, J. D. (2007). The relationship between physical attractiveness of professors and students’ ratings of professor quality. Journal of Psychiatry, Psychology and Mental Health, 1(2), 1-7.

• Cutts, B., Hooley, T. & Yates, J. (2015) Graduate Dress Code: How undergraduates are planning to use hair, clothes and make-up to smooth their transition to the workplace. Industry and Higher Education, 29 (4):271-282.

• Hosoda, M., Stone-Romero, E. F., & Coats, G. (2003). The effects of physical attractiveness on job-related outcomes: A meta-analysis of experimental studies. Personnel Psychology, 56(2), 431.

• Hooley, T. and Yates, J. (2015). ‘If you look the part you’ll get the job’: should career professionals help clients to enhance their career image? British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 43(4): 438-451

• Romano, S. T., & Bordieri, J. E. (1989). Physical attractiveness stereotypes and students’ perception of college professors. Psychological Reports, 64(3c), 1099-1102.


Tristram Hooley

Professor of Career Education

International Centre for Guidance Studies

University of Derby

http://www.derby.ac.uk/icegs

[email protected]

@pigironjoe

Blog at

http://adventuresincareerdevelopment.wordpress.com

http://www.derby.ac.uk/icegs

mailto:[email protected]

http://adventuresincareerdevelopment.posterous.com/


In conclusion

• Appearance and attractiveness matter to career.• This is true in a wide range of employment contexts and

seems likely to be true in higher education and research work.

• Prior to transitions people are often concerned about issues related to appearance and attractiveness.

• We should be talking about these issues more.• How we talk about this needs to be carefully handled.

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Does appearance influence career opportunities?